Case Report
Open Access Peer-reviewed

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome after COVID-19 Vaccination (MIS-V) Presenting with Retropharyngeal Phlegmon in a 15-year-old Boy in Japan

Takeshi Koga1,, Moe Yoshimura1, Sakiko Kubo1, Miki Nagai1, Katsuhiko Tabata1, Hiromi Teranishi1, Misato Fujino1, Hiroshi Kawana1, Ikuma Musha1, Yuko Akioka1

1Department of Pediatrics, Saitama Medical University Hospital, Saitama, Japan

American Journal of Medical Case Reports. 2022, 10(2), 35-38. DOI: 10.12691/ajmcr-10-2-4
Received December 09, 2021; Revised January 14, 2022; Accepted January 23, 2022

Abstract

Our case report presents a young patient vaccinated for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who developed multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), which was later confirmed to be multisystem inflammatory syndrome after vaccination (MIS-V). 15-year-old boy previously infected by COVID-19 who received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine 50 days later and developed fever, lethargy, headache, diarrhea, nausea, lip swelling, neck pain, and dysphagia. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography revealed a low absorption area with no contrast effect was observed in the posterior pharyngeal gap suggesting retropharyngeal phlegmon. He was diagnosed to be MIS-V level 2 based on the Brighton Collaboration Case Definition and improved by Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). The frequency of neck symptoms in MIS-V is higher than in other febrile diseases, and many cases of retropharyngeal phlegmon are observed. In addition, pediatric COVID-19 is mostly asymptomatic or mild; therefore, it is predicted that children who are unaware of their history of COVID-19 before vaccination are not rare. Therefore, after vaccination, extra care should be required to development of MIS-V in children.

Keywords:

COVID-19, vaccine, MIS-C, neck pain, dysphagia, adverse event following immunization, child
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